A rendering of the proposed $245 million Kewadin Lansing Casino, which the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians wants to build on Michigan Avenue in downtown Lansing.

Written by

Lindsay VanHulle

Gannett Michigan

LANSING — An Upper Peninsula American Indian tribe is moving forward with proposals to build two casinos in Michigan — including one near Detroit Metro Airport — by asking the federal government to hold land in trust.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians said Wednesday it formally sent land trust applications to the U.S. Department of the Interior to take property in Lansing and Wayne County’s Huron Township in trust. The action is required before the tribe can open a casino.

The federal government must approve the tribe’s application, which is not guaranteed. The tribe said in a statement it anticipates a decision within weeks.

The tribe wants to build a 125,000-square-foot casino adjacent to the Lansing Center along Michigan Avenue. It purchased a 0.43-acre parcel of land from the city and has an option on a second, for a total of about 3 acres near the corner of Michigan Avenue and Cedar Street.

The tribe would buy the larger parcel should the Interior Secretary agree to hold the land in trust.

The tribe said it also is studying the potential for a casino that would be built on 71 acres in Huron Township southwest of Detroit Metro Airport.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero pitched the casino project with the Sault tribe more than two years ago. The project has been on hold while the state tried to block the casino, to be called Kewadin Lansing, because it is nearly 300 miles from the tribe’s reservation centered in Sault Ste. Marie.

The tribe is moving forward after Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last week withdrew his petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his Lansing casino lawsuit. The high court recently ruled in another Michigan casino case that American Indian tribes have sovereign immunity that prevents them from being sued.

In a statement Wednesday, Bernero said he is “more optimistic by the day” that the casino will happen.

Opponents, including other Michigan tribes, say the Sault tribe’s plans violate a gaming compact it signed with the state that require revenue-sharing agreements from other in-state tribes before opening a casino.